Upon looking through an old book on Brussels, we came across a description of an area said to be totally undesirable, a hideous wart on the face of Brussels, a gutter from which this stream of vice and beggary which always overflows into the streets of the capital, flows every morning and to which it returns each evening to stagnate. This is description of an old district which must have been situated more or less on the present site of the respected Royal Library and the Mont des Arts. Since the middle of the 19th century this old working-class districts which today would be considered picturesque, has been doomed to be transformed. Some projects have been terminated, others have not yet been solved. Restoration plans conflicted with an extravagant project for a cultural temple. In addition, this situation was complicated further by plans for railway line to cross the centre of the town. An attempt was made to enhance and modernise the centre of Brussels, and improve the sanitation. The obvious failure of this policy has become a cliché. We thought it would be interesting to point out, with the support of documents, that it was the authorities, and not obscure, who decided upon ,designed and destroyed the center of the town.